B&W, 1968, 94 mins. 58 secs.
Directed by Jean Rollin
Starring Solange Pradel, Bernard Letrou, Ariane Sapriel, Jacqueline Sieger, Jean-Loup Philippe
Indicator (UHD & Blu-ray) (US/UK R0 4K/HD), Kino Lorber (Blu-ray & DVD) (US RA/R1 HD/NTSC), Encore (Holland R0 PAL) / WS (1.66:1) (16:9), Salvation, Image (US R1 NTSC, UK R0 PAL) / WS (1.66:1)


The one that started it all, The Rape of the Vampirethis episodic art-horror film marked the feature film debut of French horror director Jean Rollin, the country's most consistent and The Rape of the Vampirereliable creator of Gothic fantasies for four decades. The fragmented but visually striking film began life as a short but was expanded into a dual-story offering to run long enough to play in regular theaters; needless to say, the reception for this bizarre mixture of surrealism, nudity, and violence didn't go over too well in a country not know for its traditionally horrific output.

At a remote chateau in the country, a psychiatrist (Letrou) is summoned to help a quartet of dysfunctional sisters who believe they're vampires in a long line of sword-wielding bloodsuckers. Ruled by the enigmatic Vampire queen (Sieger), they prowl the beach area and feed on the locals, one of whom intends to manipulate the fairest of the sisters for his own scheming ends. Of course, it turns out the vampire legends are true, and the shrink falls afoul of their hunger and is brought back by the sea. Scientific experiments, angry villagers, and sheer nightgowns further confuse matters as the vampire community expands and begins to turns on itself.

Though there's a fair amount of bare flesh on display, this film isn't remotely as transgressive as the title might imply. Instead it's firmly in the dreamy, stream-of-consciousness mode found in most of Rollin's early films, obviously a dry run for his more accomplished initial foray into color next with The Nude Vampire (which also expounds on some of the sci-fi and tragic romance elements found here). Strange, campy, and sometimes puzzling, this film was largely improvised on the spot and is divided into two chapters, one the more traditional portion of the story and the latter concerned more with a modern (but strangely antiquated) meditation The Rape of the Vampireon the same idea. It's the sort of film best watched very late at night when your mind isn't operated with all thrusters; you can just sit back and go along with its late-'60s Django Killoddness with as little resistance as possible. Those familiar with Rollin will find plenty to enjoy here, though newcomers would be advised to start off with something a lot more accessible like The Demoniacs, Fascination, or The Living Dead Girl.

Not surprisingly, Rollin's first vampire opus barely played outside of France and was largely unknown for decades. Appetizing descriptions in Phil Hardy's landmark The Overlook Film Encyclopedia: Horror created a near-instant demand for Rollin's films in English, and soon this quirky little slice of European insanity was being issued in various versions all over the U.S. and the U.K. The flat letterboxed versions from Image and Redemption on DVD looked fine, with a very limited Dutch double-disc set from Encore offering a more elaborate package thanks to a Rollin commentary, alternate scenes, and interviews with Sieger, Alain-Yves Beaujour, and François Tusques, among other goodies.

The Blu-ray and DVD reissue from Kino Lorber in 2012 was obviously a substantial upgrade transfer-wise, with the HD option providing a particularly rich visual presentation. As usual this is presented basically straight out of the can, debris and all. The late director offers a brief video intro to the film, while the 22-minute featurette "Fragments of Pavements under the Sand" has critic Jean-Pierre Bouyxou, editor Jean-Denis Bonan and actor Jean-Loup Philippe (who would go on to a much more substantial role in Rollin's Lips of Blood) talking about the film's stormy reception and box office success, with multiple archival bits of Rollin The Rape of the Vampireinterviews offering his own memories of jumping into the realm of full-length feature filmmaking. One of the alternate scenes (in the medical room) is included as well along with an additional (longer) Philippe interview and two Rollin short films, Les amours jaunes (The Yellow Loves) and Les pays loin ("The Far Country), which are familiar from Django Killprior Redemption DVD releases but in better quality here. As usual, the release wraps up with trailers for other Rollin titles in the series and insightful liner notes by Tim Lucas on this and other films in the second HD batch from Kino and Redemption.

In 2023, Indicator added this to its gorgeous roster of Rollin remasters presented as separate UHD and Blu-ray editions. The UHD available for review is stunning, improving on an already solid past history of presentations by adding considerable detail, more impressive gradations of gray and white thanks to HDR, and considerable element clean-up so all those stains and specks are now a thing of the past. The French 1.0 mono track is also immaculate and features improved optional English subtitles. Ported over here are the 2007 Jean Rollin commentary (now adjusted to fix some major timing goofs on the earlier disc) and a new track by Tim Lucas, who does a thorough and informed job of parsing through the narrative tie to Dead Men Walk (for which it was intended to be a reissue companion short), the possible reasons behind the film's violent reception, connections to a variety of genre films released around the same time, and other French cultural touchstones at play here.

Ported over from earlier releases are the '98 Rollin video intro (2m33s) and his 2007 Q&A with Joshua T. Gravel at the Fantasia Film Festival (4m23s). "Jean Rollin l'effervescence" (39m30s) is a lengthy and informative chat with Jean-Denis Bonan, editor of The Rape of The Vampire and assistant director on The Far Countries, about this work with the filmmaker from 1962 to 1968 during a famously transformative period in French cinema, complete with some great sculpted artifacts as well."Je ne regrette rien" (12m27s) is a newly edited archival interview with actor Jacqueline Sieger about her unforgettable appearance in the film as the vampire queen, as well as her experience as a film critic and working at a psychiatric hospital around the same time. In "The All-Rounder" (17m58s), The Rape of the Vampirea Django Killnewly edited archival interview with actor Alain Yves Beaujour about his work on this as The Far Countries (where he also served as assistant cameraman), fitting in with the spirit of teamwork on these early films where assignments could shift around as needed. In "Parallel Routes" (11m25s), François Tusques discusses his experience in free jazz and the methods he brought to the score for this film, which required a considerable amount of editing and experimentation to achieve. The Philippe interview was initially listed in the announcement for this film but is not included here, so hang on to your old Blu-ray if you're a collector; instead portions of it have been incorporated into an updated and expanded 31m54s version of the "Fragments of Pavement Under Sand" featurette. In "Indelible Impressions" (8m15s), author and film historian Virginie Sélavy delivers a useful overview of the film's origins and production history including its shooting locations and some of the more notable participants. The alternate operating room scene (2m10s) is presented here in its entirety as a separate extra, followed by the cut-down French Super 8 version (16m39s), the French trailer, and a 114-image gallery of promotional material, 92 behind-the-scenes photos. The Far Countries is included here in a new 4K restoration (16m25s), including Rollin's archival commentary, and it looks stunning here with a tremendous a/v upgrade over the soft, scratchy SD versions we've had before. L’Itinéraire Souvenir (27m43s) is a reconstruction via text, audio, script pages, and photos of Rollin’s lost 1962 short L’Itinéraire marin (co-written by Marguerite Duras!) by filmmakers Victor Poucalow and Raja Tawil, charting two businessmen's unusual afternoon trip to the beach. "De la grève: A Short History of L’Itinéraire marin" (6m55s) features material from the interview sessions for "Fragments" covering some of the history behind the lost short including the poets who influenced its creation and the literary and stage works that had a hand in its creation. A limited edition of 10,000 numbered units (6,000 UHDs and 4,000 Blu-rays) for the U.K. and U.S., the set also comes with an 80-page book featuring a new essay by Beatrice Loayza, archival writing by Rollin, an archival interview with Rollin by Peter Blumenstock, Rollin’s notes of shooting The Far Countries, and film credits.

INDICATOR (UHD)

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KINO LORBER (Blu-ray)

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Updated review on September 2, 2023